The Dust Has Settled

             So here is the first blog post in over 20 days. Things were looking grim. It was beginning to look like I would have to pack up and head back, tail between my legs. I had been fired twice in a month. My money was low. I had 30 days left on my tourist visa. I had to find a job, keep the job, and navigate the tricky visa process, which can take almost a month to complete, so that I could stay in they country and work.
            Today, I have a job and I have just been told that my resident visa will go through in time. I get paid in 10 days. It would appear that the worst is over. It seems that a future here is possible.

           I like the new job. It's called English Wonderland and it's located in a public school. The kids come and stay for three days and it's designed to let the kids have fun so that they will like English and decide to enroll in voluntary classes later. The work environment is good and state of the art. I work with 7 other English teachers on a team. The schedule is really rough for a few days but then we get lots of time off. I have two 12 hour days, one 8 hour day, and one 4 hour day every other week. So basically, I have 5 consecutive days off every other week. But the two 12 hour days are brutal. Plus, the commute is an hour one way and an hour back. So with the commute, I have one hour when I get home to unwind and go to sleep to get 8 hours...then I do it again the next day. There are 3 teaching hours the first day and 6 on the second...so those two days are grueling. But all things considered, I can't complain. Also, they give us free lunch and dinner on the long days. So it's pretty great. Good pay, good environment, reasonable expectations.
          I reduced my spending drastically this past month. I've been keeping a log and really trying to live efficiently. If I spent what I spent last month, rent included, I'll be able to save half of my paycheck.
       I've been hanging out a lot with this girl named Katherine who you will see in the pictures below. Been riding on her scooter to go places. One is called Yanmin mountain, the other was a university called nptu or something. The mountain is pretty magical...looks like the misty mountain from lord of the rings (or at least like I imagine it would). I hope to go back and spend a day there. Also, I went to the hot springs in an area called Beitou which is like an hour on the MRT. Also very beautiful. My team went to the beach this week, but I was sick so I couldn't go. But I hear the water is pretty warm all year round they say. So I'm looking forward to doing some sight seeing here...it's a beautiful place. Not so much clubbing anymore...that's kind of played out.            I went to the doctor two days ago. I had no appointment and no insurance. He saw me within 10 minutes, diagnosed me in like 3, sent me out and gave me like 3 days worth of pills all for 600 nt which is like 20 dollars US. Remember, this is WITHOUT insurance. With insurance would have been 200 NT, less that 10 dollars. So that's awesome. I don't know why we can't it together in the states. It doesn't really seem all that complicated. So I'm going to upload a bunch of photos below.